Teak deck plugs and nailed decks

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Peter

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The teak decks on my yacht are 30mm thick teak, nailed with copper (or bronze) nails through a ½” ply into deck stringers (correct me if this is not the right description) Then the “nails holes” capped with 10mm plugs.
My problem is with wear some (a lot) of the plugs have disappeared and the nail head is almost flush with the deck. Just looking for some ideas on how to “lowering” the nails so I can refit the plugs. Not really looking at using a drift and hammering them down as I am concerned that repeated “shocks” from hammering could disturb joints/seams etc.

Any ideas welcome.

Peter
 
To be honest only way I know, is to drive the nails deeper, with a punch and lump hammer, you only really need to go about 10-12mm deeper.
If they are bronze nails, they are likely to be "ring" nails so dont try and pull them out, as they will destroy the teak.
However drilling out above them, to fit the new plugs, is going to be difficult, a "lip and spur" drill, might be best, first start with a new one, then use one with the spigot in the middle removed. Failing that a "forstner" bit might be better. I would tend to go for a slightly bigger plug say 12mm or even 1/2" both are available from ARC teak. Cutting your own, over about 50 is just un-economic. Use a waterproof glue, but not epoxy, to hold the new plugs in. IMHO
 
From a purely logic point of view, you have two choices: 'lower' the nails or raise the deck. I have to say I have never heard of a nailed laid teak deck before but assuming the nails are round head I have a nasty feeling you are between a rock and a very hard place. If they have round heads, you may find you are going to find it dificult to get them hammered in further without a pilot hole for the head. But what's the choice? If they are barbed ring nails, they are not going to come out without damage and there is no practical way of raising the deck.

How many are a problem? With that thickness of deck you have a fair bit to play with. I think I would be thinking of very carefully drilling out the nail and replacing it with a suitable sized countersunk silicon bronze screw which is then freshly plugged. Mind you I have to admit that the idea of drilling out the nail is easier to write about than achieve (and I speak as someone who has removed a screwed laid teak deck). Of course an alternative is to cover the deck. Some would call that vandalism but its an option and one that solves any deck leak problems.
 
Last year at Hamilton Is race week I saw a committee boat with teak decks, she was a power boat and had some sort of matting over all the high traffic areas, it had a small teak trim. Ran around the stern, up both sides and covered the bow area. Looked very neat, non slip and cool underfoot on a hot day.

Worth looking at.

Avagoodweekend......
 
All the Dagless, Fuer de Lys boats had the decks, whether teak or mostly iroko, nailed down, unfortunately with squre galvanised boat nails!! Yuck! I have looked at and worked on a couple, one we had to remove the headlinings, to find, half the deck nails, sticking out the sides of the beams, a lot had missed completely!! One of those boats was called Feur de Lys and was built for the owner of the yard!! Bloody awful! Foreman on that job wants raping with an adze!
 
Think you are on the slippery slope to eventual re-decking. While it is possible to takes screws out and bore deeper holes, nails, which are probably ring nails are difficult. The fact that the plugs are disappearing suggests that something like one third of the deck thickness has gone. You do not say how the teak is "attached" to the ply - if at all. The great weakness of this style of construction is water getting into the ply and leading to delamination.

Harsh solution is to to take all the teak off and replace with a synthetic teak like material if you are in love with the teak look. If you just want a strong durable deck then cover with glass cloth set in epoxy and painted. A boat in our club has just done this and it looks great compared with the ratty teak deck it once had.

The folks who built boats like this were pandering to the original purchaser and ignoring the long term negative consequences of a pretty looking teak deck.
 
Depends how it was laid and on what ply, I have a teak on ply deck and I am still waiting for this disaster, after 44 years later!
 
To advocate ripping off, 30mm teak decking is a bit of overkill IMHO, there is a lot that can be done yet! Even maybe by partially machining out the nails, plugging and replacing with screws alongside. Rip it off, as a last resort maybe.
To advocate that plastic stuff, well words fail me.
 
IIRC, you're in the Med. I hope you have less rain than the rest of us in NW Europe /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif So, that should add a few years.

The trouble with ply is that if it starts to rot from underneath, you will never know just how bad it is/isn't till you start digging.
When we stripped away the teak, at first glance over 80% of the ply still looked 'good'. When after 3 weeks of drying out in a hangar the humidity readings were still 'off the scale' we investigated further. It HAD started to rot from underneath. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
The whole thing had to come off and the entire deck had to be rebuilt /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
Please read all of the post. It is not 30mm teak, probably now down to nearer 20mm if nails are showing. The OP does not say how the teak is attached to the ply. If it is just nailed down (no epoxy or Sika) then messing with the nails is almost certain to let water in, if it has not got in from missing plugs already. I suggested teak substitute if you like teak but don't want the long term negative aspects of this method of construction. If you want a good looking, serviceable minimum maintenance deck then a glass epoxy covering is the way to go at a fraction of the cost of new teak.
 
I did read all of the post and have re-read it, he said 30mm teak on 1/2" ply.

Even if its 20mm, which is a hell of a lot more teak than modern boats with 10-12mm new, then it can still be repaired at little cost, apart from labour for a fraction of the cost of ripping it all off and covering the ply with epoxy and glass cloth. It doesnt, probably, need new teak.
 
OK, so ignore the possibility of water already having got into the ply. If the teak has been fixed with ring nails they can be neither driven deeper nor removed easily. Sure, it can be bodged but the basic method of construction is flawed and eventually it will have to come off. The question is - bite the bullet now or let it wear/decay further and pass the problem onto future owners.

Comparisons with thinner teak on modern GRP boats is irrelevant - if the teak is screwed onto GRP it is even more flawed method of construction and on current evidence 15 years is a typical life before it has to come off!
 
I have a teak deck exactly as you describe and this is one of the on going jobs of that type of decking.

A forsner drill as mentioned by Englander is a great tool for removing the heads off the nails and then a punch to move the shank down or if you can drill it out. Once the nail has been sorted you can then drill the hole deeper to replace the nail. I replace with screws and the only part of Englanders post I wont agree to is not using epoxy. I use epoxy every time when doing this job.

My deck is now 36 years old and although not a show piece it does what it's supposed to do, that is....... provide a non slip surface!

With some TLC you should have many more years left in the deck.

Tom
 
Tom,
Thankyou, I thought I was being stupid for one moment there! I do know a thing or two about teak decks, having laid a few. and repaired a lot more.
Luckily mine are bronze screwed, so I'm in the process of re-plugging mine now.
If the forstner bit wont take the nails off, you can use a mill designed for milling metal, in a drill or router, that will do it.
But a proper nail punch, with a concave in its end and a lump hammer, (so you only need to hit it once) will drive the nails in enough to get a new plug in.
 
Drill the head off the nail then use something like these.....
DKWSE1.jpg


Available here

Drill down round the nail shank - remove the shank and fill the small hole with a hardwood dowel epoxied in, deepen the counter sink in the deck, secure the deck back down with a stainless or bronze screw and finally fit a new plug. you might need to use a #10 or #12 screw to allow the head to hold the teak rather than only pressing onto the dowel.
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Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity.
 
They are very handy for removing broken screws. Eventually the friction on the wood round the screw overcomes the shear strength of the timber and out comes a little wooden core along with the broken screw shank. I don't see why they would not work on nails (used them before for removing nails with minimal damage to the timber) apart from maybe the length of the shop bought ones.
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hammer.gif
Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity.
 
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